Panchjanya says that the recent activity of the National Investigating Agency against separatist leaders has also been effective.

Panchjanya discusses the attack on the Border Security Force camp near the Srinagar airport on October 3 in both its cover story and editorial this week. It says that the attack demonstrates the desperation of “jihadis”. “The long fight against terrorists in the valley is now in a decisive phase,” it says.

The cover story starts by talking about the terrorist attack but moves to other points. It says the recent activity of the National Investigating Agency against separatist leaders has also been effective. It quotes an unnamed “senior NIA officer” saying that this is the only government that is not only willing to touch separatist forces but has revealed their dark activities. This has shut up the separatists, and the effect can be seen across the valley as the incidents including stone-pelting have reduced compared to earlier.

The editorial says that the attack on the BSF camp is a sign of both the increasing brazenness of the terrorists and the careless vigil on part of security forces. Struck by controls on their funding sources and by losing top militants, different terrorist groups can come together leading to a big attack, it says. “Islamic mania”, the cause of international terrorism, is a problem and neither can the Kashmir incident, nor can the incidents across the globe be seen in isolation.

Had Burhan Wani not been made a poster boy by calling him a poor teacher’s son; had the throats Congress leaders not choked after the Batla House encounter, it would have had a huge impact and terrorist forces would be on the margins today, says the editorial.

Yashwant’s criticism

Panchjanya and Organiser have an article each on Yashwant Sinha’s criticism of the economy.

Panchjanya says that it was under Sinha as finance minister that India had to mortgage its gold to the Bank of England in 1991, and he would have blamed it on the state of the economy inherited by him. Getting into the merits of the economy, it details the various topics including exports, increased tax-base, unemployment problems and drop in the rate of lending by banks. The article says that with almost all the demonetised currency coming back into the system, “it must be admitted that demonetisation was not successful to decisively attack black money,” which it claimed is stored in multiple other forms.

Organiser compares the performance of the UPA and NDA governments to counter Sinha’s criticism. It appreciates the “ambitious” Make in India project but says “Rome was not built in a day” and the various factors needed to help industrial growth may take years. Under the Modi’s government GDP and per capita income have grown faster compared to UPA’s successive governments. The Modi government also inherited high non-performing assets due to loans disbursed during the UPA regime.

It concludes by saying, “At times observers and analysts lose their objectivity due to some personal reasons. Modi bashers should understand that with every baseless argument and accusation they are just helping him in strengthening his position.”

Kerala and PFI

Organiser has focused on Kerala in this issue, with a cover story on the Popular Front of India and an editorial on the political violence in the state.

BJP President Amit Shah, the editorial says, has decided to hit the “ground zero” of political violence in the state. “The Communist prodigies in Delhi veiled as eminent journalists and intellectuals started singing the old song that both the RSS and the CPM are responsible for political violence in Kerala, missing the root cause of this political culture.” The editorial states that those who are unable to see life “beyond party politics” find it tough to grasp but the ones who wish to “stand by democracy as a principle and peaceful mobilisation as a process have no option but to understand this anatomy of political violence.”

The communists in Kerala have played the communal card in the state since the 1930s and have politicised the entire state’s machinery, it claims. Discussing PFI, the magazine says its “activities, ideologies and modus operandi are not much different from the Islamic State”. Claiming PFI’s roots are in the now-banned Student Islamic Movement of India, it gives details of SIMI’s history and how PFI is organised with its various wings.

“That PFI has been accused of various anti-social and anti-national activities including connections with various Islamic terrorist groups, possessing arms, kidnapping, murder, intimidation, hate campaigns, rioting, Love Jihad and various religious extremism, etc. vindicates the statement that their human rights activities are camouflages.” The article claims that people of Kerala are “grateful to BJP for its Jana Raksha Yathra which exposes” both the “red jihad” and Islamic fundamentalism.